LunchtimeRunner

Latest posts by LunchtimeRunner

I know one of the runners who ended up in hospital (for 24 hours in the end) after passing out while running the Ealing half. His was a case of dehydration. He's actually an experienced runner who just made a stupid mistake. I ran it too, and it was surprisingly warm and humid (yes, I had checked the forecast): I have run 4 HMs and 1 marathon in the last 2 years and it is the first time I've felt the need to pour water on my head and (marathon excepted) the need to drink a reasonable amount of water.

I think people were just taken by surprise by the conditions. It's the end of september, right, and only a half? I take it as a lesson to never be complacent.

Well, I thought 90 mins was optimistic, and so it turned out to be. I came in at just over 92 min (again!).

Warm day, but no wind, so reasonably good conditions. I started out (as planned) a little behind the 90 min pacer, and stayed a few yards behind through the first few miles, the idea being to be slightly behind 90 min pace, then see if I had the legs to push on in the second half. I didn't! First half was 45:17, second half nearly 47 minutes.

I felt very comfortable miles 1-5, 6-9 were slightly tough but I was still averaging 6:56 pace. But then I dropped in a 7:24 (worst) for mile 10 as my lack of stamina began to really tell.

Lessons learnt: more miles in the bank needed. This year I have averaged 30 miles a week, with a recent burst of four 40+ weeks. My PB of just over 90 mins came when I had had 3 months of 35-40 mile weeks. I think that is the difference.

Thanks TR. I've just done my final hard run (5 miles at tempo, 9 miles total) 11 days out from the HM. A bit disappointed with not being able to do a bit more at tempo, but my legs need the taper I think. 10 miles easy at the weekend and then short runs only from then on in. And Good luck with the marathon, RJ.

Yes, I am also looking for a sub-90 in two weeks time, but it's a just-about-possible time rather than a probable. My Marathon PB (debut!) is 3:28:43 in Apr 2014, 10K is 41:44 (in 2012). According to the calculators, half M seems to be my best distance.

For years I have run in a full size bigger. Then I trained for my first marathon (Brighton, just done) and my toes started going black back in Feb. Blood blisters etc. So I tried my normal brand but one and a half sizes bigger. Problem solved.

Problem is that when pacers start in the pack, you can beat the pacer across the line but miss the target time - if you started ahead of them. This happend to me at reading half last year, missed 90 mins by 17 seconds. Grrr.

Also, anyone know where the bag drop is? I've been looking at the website and can't find it marked anywhere. Do people have views on good meeting points for after the race?

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